Insert and apparatus for transplanting plants

ABSTRACT

An insert for growing plants, including a plurality of receptacles, adapted for insertion into a container, wherein each of the receptacles is arranged for receiving a separate plant with a portion of gel for feeding the plant. The receptacles may be arranged to allow communication between the portions of gel in the receptacles to allow the plants to share a common feed reservoir of the gel.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an insert for growing young plants in gel, andto an apparatus for transplanting young plants. More particularly, butnot exclusively, the invention relates to an insert for facilitatingautomated transplanting of plants from the insert into soil.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known to provide very large numbers of plants for certain types ofjobs such as, for example, planting alongside long stretches of roadsand freeways. For such jobs, the plants may be provided in a number ofways such as by way of cuttings, by seeds, by tissue culture, or bydivision/splitting. However, the applicant has identified that the useof cuttings is not possible for many plants and may be expensive; theuse of seeds may provide too great variation in plant type/appearance;division/splitting may require a significant amount of labour, andtissue culture may be prohibitively expensive. However, the applicanthas identified that while tissue culture may be an expensive method forgrowing young embryonic plants, it is beneficial in that it guaranteesthe most uniformity in the plants grown which is advantageous in largejobs where uniformity of appearance is desired, such as in plantingalongside long stretches of freeway roads. Also, the applicant hasidentified that the growing of plants by using tissue culture enablesthe plants to be grown in a sterile environment such that the plants canbe taken between countries without being quarantine being required,whereas growing plants in soil may be prohibited or result in quarantinefor an extended period.

The ability to transport plants between countries when sterile enablesthe plants to be originated in a different country from the end market,for example in a laboratory where labour is cheaper. However theapplicant has identified that there exists a problem in that the sterileplants need to be transplanted in the destination country, that withexisting methods this transplanting needs to be done manually, and thatthis is expensive in view of the manual labour required in thedestination country which is typically a country of high labour cost.

Examples of the invention seek to provide an improved apparatus andmethod for growing and transplanting young plants which overcomes or atleast alleviates disadvantages associated with existing apparatus andmethods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an insert for growing plants, including a plurality ofreceptacles, adapted for insertion into a container, wherein each of thereceptacles is arranged for receiving a separate plant with a portion ofgel for feeding the plant.

Preferably, the receptacles allow communication between the portions ofgel in the receptacles to allow the plants to share a common feedreservoir of the gel.

Preferably, all of the receptacles are continuous with the common feedreservoir.

It is preferred that each of the receptacles has a respective aperturesuch that the portions of gel are continuous with a common volume of gelvia each respective aperture. More preferably, the aperture is locatedin a base of the respective receptacle.

In one form, there is provided the insert, when in situ in thecontainer, wherein the container contains the gel and the insert isimmersed in the gel such that the gel rises to a common level in each ofthe receptacles.

Preferably, the insert has one or more feet to support the insert abovea floor of the container to provide space beneath the receptacles forthe common feed reservoir. More preferably, said one or more feetsupport the receptacles at least 3 mm above the floor of the container.

In a preferred form, walls of each receptacle are smooth to allow upwardremoval of the respective gel portion as a plug together with therespective plant for transplanting.

Preferably, the receptacles are arranged in a grid.

Preferably, the receptacles are arranged in rows and columns.

In a preferred form, each of the receptacles tapers inwardly toward alower end of the receptacle.

Preferably, a majority of the receptacles are sized with a top of eachreceptacle being square with 12 mm sides, and a bottom being square with9 mm sides.

Preferably, the insert is circular with a diameter of approximately 95mm.

In a preferred form, the insert has 37 receptacles.

It is preferred that the receptacles are arranged in rows from one sideto an opposite side with the following number of receptacles inconsecutive rows: 3, 5, 7, 7, 7, 5 and 3.

Preferably, the insert is formed of plastic material.

Preferably, the container is circular.

In a preferred form, the container has a lid for maintaining sterilitywithin the container.

In one form, the gel is agar.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an insert for growing plants, including a plurality ofreceptacles, adapted for insertion into a container, wherein each of thereceptacles is arranged for receiving a separate plant, the insertincluding at least one arm adapted to bear against the container tomaintain the insert in position, relative to the container.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a container for growing plants including a plurality ofreceptacles, wherein each of the receptacles is arranged for receiving aseparate plant with gel for providing nutrition to the plant, andwherein the receptacles allow communication between the portions of gelin the receptacles to allow the plants to share a common feed reservoirof the gel.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an apparatus for transplanting plants from a container havingan insert as defined above, wherein the apparatus is adapted to removeeach of the plants by gripping the plant at the respective portion ofgel.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an apparatus for transplanting plants from a container havingan insert as defined above, wherein the apparatus operates automaticallyby being aware of the number of receptacles in the container, and thespacing between the receptacles.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of supplying plants including the steps of growing theplants in a first country in a sterile environment, the plants beingplanted in agar for feeding the plants; storing the plants in thesterile environment in a sealed container, the plants being arranged ina predetermined ordered arrangement in the container; transporting thecontainer to a second country in the sealed container; opening thecontainer in the second country; and removing the plants from thecontainer using a machine which automatically locates and removes eachof the plants on the basis of the predetermined ordered arrangement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described, by way of non-limiting example only, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a top view of an insert in a container, with plants inreceptacles of the insert, in accordance with an example of thepresent-invention;

FIG. 2 shows a detailed side view of the insert of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a detailed top perspective view of a receptacle of theinsert of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows detail of a plant in an agar plug which has been removedfrom the insert shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows a detailed side view of the agar plug;

FIG. 6 shows a top view of an insert in accordance with another exampleof the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows a bottom view of the insert of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a bottom perspective view of the insert of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of an insert in accordance with anotherexample of the present invention;

FIG. 10 shows a perspective view of the insert of FIG. 9, shown stackedwith another like insert;

FIG. 11 shows a detailed view of an arm of the insert of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 shows a perspective view of the insert of FIG. 9 shown in acontainer; and

FIG. 13 shows a side view of a container fitted with the insert of FIG.9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, there is shown an insert 10 for growingembryonic plants, in accordance with an example of the presentinvention. Advantageously, the insert 10 arranges the embryonic plantsin such a way that a transplanting apparatus, such as an automatedtransplanting machine, is able to know where there plants are so thatgripping fingers (or the like) of the transplanting apparatus are ableto automatically transplant the plants from the insert 10, therebydramatically cutting down on the amount of labour and the associatedcosts in producing a large number of mature plants. As the insert 10ensures that the plants are planted in an orderly, array, thetransplanting apparatus is able to be programmed to remove the plantswith attached agar plugs from the insert 10 for transplanting into soil.

The applicant has also identified that with completely independentcells/receptacles in the insert, the plants would not be able to sharethe agar food source. However, in preferred examples of the presentinvention, the insert 10 may provide for continuity of the agar volumein the different cells/receptacles so that the plants are able to sharefood, thereby reducing the mortality rate as some plants may grow morequickly than others and run out of food in an isolated cell.

More specifically, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, there is shown aninsert 10 for growing plants 12, including a plurality of receptacles14. The insert 10 is adapted for insertion into a container 16, and eachof the receptacles 14 is arranged for receiving a separate one of theplants 12 with a portion of gel 18 for feeding the plant 12. Thereceptacles 14 may allow communication between the portions of gel 18 inthe receptacles 14 to allow the plants 12 to share a common feedreservoir 20 of the gel. The receptacles 14 may be arranged such thatall of the receptacles 14 are continuous with the common feed reservoir20. For example, although the receptacles 14 are shown as being separatein the top view of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 shows several receptacles 14 through aside of the container 16, wherein the receptacles 14 share the commonfeed reservoir 20. The common feed reservoir 20 may be shared by all ofthe receptacles 14 by allowing the receptacles 14 to be in fluidcommunication with all of the other receptacles 14, by providing anaperture in each of the receptacles 14. Accordingly, each of thereceptacles 14 may have a respective aperture 22 such that the portionsof gel 18 are continuous with a common volume of gel 24 via eachrespective aperture 22. The aperture 22 may be located in a base 26 ofthe respective receptacle 14, as shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 6 to8. The insert 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 may be formed in a similarconfiguration to the insert of FIGS. 6 to 8, and may comprise a circularsection cut from the large rectangular insert of FIGS. 6 to 8.

In this way, by virtue of the apertures 22, when the insert 10 is insitu in the container 16, the container contains the gel and the insert10 is immersed in the gel such that the gel rises to a common level ineach of the receptacles 14. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the amount of gelmay be controlled such that this level of the gel is at or just below anupper surface of the insert 10.

The insert 10 may have one or more feet (not shown) to support theinsert 10 above a floor 28 of the container 16 to provide space beneaththe receptacles 14 for the common feed reservoir 20. The feet may beconfigured to support the receptacles 14 at least 3 mm above the floor28 of the container 16 so as to allow the common feed reservoir 20 to beof a sufficiently large size to provide enough food for the entirenumber of plants in the container 16.

With reference to FIG. 3, the walls 30 of each receptacle 14 are smoothto allow upward removal of the respective gel portion 18 as a plugtogether with the respective plant 12 for transplanting. The removed gelplug 32 intact with the respective plant 12 is shown removed from theinsert 10 in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The receptacles 14 may be arranged in a grid of rows and columns so asto facilitate automated removal of the plants 12. The plants 12 with theattached plugs 22 may be removed from the insert 10 simultaneously, onerow at a time, or individually, however an important common aspect isthat the insert 10 enables a machine to know where to locate each of theplants 12 in the container 16, which would not be possible without theinsert 10, as the plants 12, without the structure provided by theinsert 10, may be randomly distributed throughout the container 16.

Each of the receptacles 14 may be tapered inwardly (see FIG. 8) toward alower end 26 of the receptacle 14 so as to facilitate removal of theplugs 32 from the receptacles 14. As can be seen in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5,the plugs 32 are also tapered inwardly toward the bottom of the plugs32.

The receptacles 14 may be sized with a top of each receptacle beingsquare with 12 mm sides, and with a bottom being square with 9 mm sides.The insert 10 may be circular with a diameter of approximately 95 mm, asshown in FIGS. 1 to 3. This size enables the insert 10 to be placedinside a container 16 of the type typically used for take away food. Theinsert 10 may have 37 receptacles 14 in total, being arranged in rowsfrom one side to an opposite side with the following number ofreceptacles 14 in consecutive rows: 3, 5, 7, 7, 5 and 3.

The insert 10 may be formed of plastic material, and may be formed byplastic injection moulding. The container 16 may be circular, as per atypical take away food container, and may have a lid for maintainingsterility within the container 16. Because the food source is providedin the form of the gel 18, the container 16 may be closed from the timeof planting the plants 12 in the gel 18 until the container 16 isexported to the destination country at which time the lid can be removedas sterility is no longer required once the container 16 has beenbrought into the destination country in its sterile form so as to avoidquarantine.

The gel 18 may be agar, supplemented with a nutrient and vitamin mixturethat allows for seedling germination under sterile conditions. The seedsmust be sterilised as well.

In another form, there may be provided a suitable container which has anintegrally formed equivalent of the insert 10. In this way, thereceptacles 14 may be integrally formed within the container, each ofthe receptacles being arranged for receiving a separate plant with gelfor providing nutrition to the plant, the receptacles allowingcommunication between the portions of gel in the receptacles to allowthe plants to share a common feed reservoir of the gel.

In yet another form of the invention, there is provided an apparatus fortransplanting plants from a container having integrally formedreceptacles, or an insert as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 or 6 to 8. Theapparatus may be adapted to remove each of the plants by gripping theplant by the respective plug so as to maintain the plug intact fortransplanting. The apparatus may be in the form of a machine whichoperates automatically by being aware (either by programming ordetection) of the number of receptacles in the container, and thespacing between the receptacles.

With reference to FIGS. 9 to 13, there is shown an insert 10 inaccordance with another example of the present invention. The insert 10depicted in FIGS. 9 to 13 is generally similar to the insert of FIG. 1and like features are labelled with like reference numerals. The maindifference lies in that the insert of FIGS. 9 to 13 includes a featurespecifically provided to maintain proper location of the insert 10 inthe container 16. More specifically, the insert 10 includes at least onearm 34 adapted to bear against the container 16 to maintain the insert10 in position relative to the container 16. In the example shown inFIGS. 9 to 13, the arm 34 is adapted to abut a lid of the container 16to maintain the insert 10 in position relative to the lid. This may beachieved by arranging the arm 34 so that it has a length whereby adistal tip of the arm 34 terminates level with a lower surface of thelid when the insert 10 is in situ resting on the floor 28 of thecontainer 16, as shown in FIG. 13.

As shown in FIG. 9, the insert 10 may have a pair of opposed arms 34located on opposite sides of the insert 10 so as to hold the insert 10securely in position. The insert 10 may also have feet 36 which extendbelow the receptacles 14 of the insert 10 so as to support thereceptacles 14 above the floor 28, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13. As shownin FIG. 12, the feet 36 may be configured also to sit against a sidewallof the container 16 to hold the insert 10 laterally relative to thecontainer 16.

In the example shown, each arm 34 is foldable between an initialcondition (see FIGS. 9 to 11) wherein the arm 34 extends parallel to aplane of the insert 10 to a folded condition (see FIGS. 12 and 13) whichis substantially perpendicular to the initial condition. The insert 10may be formed with the arms 34 in the initial condition (parallel to theplane of the insert 10) to facilitate neat volume-efficient stacking oflike inserts (see FIG. 10). The receptacles 14 may also be tapered tofacilitate stacking of the inserts 10, and the feet 36 may also beangled outwardly for this reason. FIG. 11 shows detail of one of thearms 34 which may be scored where the arm 34 meets the remainder of theinsert 10 such that the arm 34 can be bent upwardly along the score lineto the folded upright condition.

By virtue of the arms 34, even if the closed container 16 is invertedthe insert 10 will remain in its proper position relative to thecontainer 16 by virtue of the tips of the arms 34 abutting against thelid of the container 16, thereby holding the insert 10 to sit againstthe floor 28 of the container 16.

The insert 10 may be transparent. Alternatively, the insert 10 may beopaque. The insert 10 may be provided with locating points in the formof the feet 36 having locating holes. In this way, the insert 10 may beused as a carrier tray and the locating holes can be used as referencepoints for a machine to locate/remove the plants. The use of thelocating holes as reference points for this purpose may be performed bya computer software program which controls operation of the machine forlocating/removing the plants. The locating holes on the insert 10 may beused for lifting the insert 10 from the container 16, as referencepoints for a robotic machine automatically locating the plants to removethe plants from the insert 10, and for holding the insert 10 fordiscarding same.

Advantageously, the container 16 fitted with the insert 10 allows plantsto be efficiently transported between countries. More specifically,plants may be supplied by way of a method including the steps of (a)growing the plants in a first country in a sterile environment, theplants being planted in agar for feeding the plants; (b) storing theplants in the sterile environment in a sealed container, the plantsbeing arranged in a predetermined ordered arrangement in the container;(c) transporting the container to a second country in the sealedcontainer; (d) opening the container in the second country; and (e)removing the plants from the container using a machine whichautomatically locates and removes each of the plants on the basis of thepredetermined ordered arrangement.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not by way of limitation. It will be apparent to aperson skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form anddetail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited byany of the above described exemplary embodiments.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (orinformation derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not,and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form ofsuggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it)or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the fieldof endeavour to which this specification relates.

Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless thecontext requires otherwise, the word “comprise”, and variations such as“comprises” and “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusionof a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not theexclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.

1. A container for growing plants including: an insert positioned in thecontainer for growing plants, the insert having a plurality ofreceptacles, wherein each of the receptacles is arranged for receiving aseparate plant with a portion of gel for feeding the plant, wherein theinsert is formed as a single unitary part and each of the receptaclestapers inwardly toward a lower end of the receptacle; a common feedreservoir of gel in the container and extending between the receptacles;and a lid which is selectively fitted to the container to enclose aninner volume of the container; wherein the receptacles allowcommunication between the portions of gel in the receptacles to allowthe plants to share the common feed reservoir, and wherein the insertincludes at least one arm which abuts the lid of the container, when thelid is fitted to the container, to maintain correct location of theinsert relative to the container.
 2. An insert for growing plants,including a plurality of receptacles, adapted for insertion into acontainer, wherein each of the receptacles is arranged for receiving aseparate plant with a portion of gel for feeding the plant, wherein theinsert is formed as a single unitary part and each of the receptaclestapers inwardly toward a lower end of the receptacle.
 3. (canceled) 4.(canceled)
 5. An insert as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of thereceptacles has a respective aperture such that the portions of gel arecontinuous with a common volume of gel via each respective aperture. 6.An insert as claimed in claim 5, wherein the aperture is located in abase of the respective receptacle.
 7. An insert as claimed in claim 2,when in situ in the container, wherein the container contains the geland the insert is immersed in the gel such that the gel rises to acommon level in each of the receptacles.
 8. An insert as claimed inclaim 2, wherein the insert has one or more feet to support the insertabove a floor of the container to provide space beneath the receptaclesfor the common feed reservoir.
 9. (canceled)
 10. (canceled) 11.(canceled)
 12. (canceled)
 13. (canceled)
 14. (canceled)
 15. (canceled)16. (canceled)
 17. (canceled)
 18. (canceled)
 19. An insert as claimed inclaim 2, wherein the container has a lid for maintaining sterilitywithin the container.
 20. An insert as claimed in claim 19, wherein theinsert includes at least one arm adapted to abut the lid of thecontainer to maintain the insert in position relative to the lid. 21.(canceled)
 22. An insert for growing plants, including a plurality ofreceptacles, adapted for insertion into a container, wherein each of thereceptacles is arranged for receiving a separate plant, the containerhas a lid for maintaining sterility within the container and the insertincludes at least one folding arm adapted to bear against the lid tomaintain the insert in position relative to the container when thecontainer is inverted.
 23. An insert as claimed in claim 22, wherein theinsert includes a pair of opposed arms.
 24. An insert as claimed inclaim 22, wherein each arm is foldable between an initial conditionwherein the arm extends parallel to a plane of the insert to a foldedcondition which is substantially perpendicular to the initial condition.25. An insert as claimed in claim 22, wherein the receptacles aretapered to facilitate stacking of a plurality of like inserts.
 26. Acontainer for growing plants including a plurality of receptacles,wherein each of the receptacles is arranged for receiving a separateplant with gel for providing nutrition to the plant, and wherein thereceptacles allow communication between the portions of gel in thereceptacles to allow the plants to share a common feed reservoir of thegel, wherein the plurality of receptacles is formed as a single unitarypart and each of the receptacles tapers inwardly toward a lower end ofthe respective receptacle.
 27. An apparatus for transplanting plantsfrom a container having an insert as claimed in claim 2, wherein theapparatus is adapted to remove each of the plants by gripping the plantat the respective portion of gel.
 28. An apparatus for transplantingplants from a container having an insert as claimed in claim 2, whereinthe apparatus operates automatically by being aware of the number ofreceptacles in the container, and the spacing between the receptacles.29. A method of supplying plants including the steps of: growing theplants in a first country in a sterile environment, the plants beingplanted in agar for feeding the plants; storing the plants in thesterile environment in a sealed container, the plants being arranged ina predetermined ordered arrangement in the container; transporting thecontainer to a second country in the sealed container; opening thecontainer in the second country; and removing the plants from thecontainer using a transplant machine which automatically locates andremoves each of the plants on the basis of the predetermined orderedarrangement.
 30. A method of supplying plants as claimed in claim 29,wherein the method includes the steps of providing the predeterminedordered arrangement of the plants to the transplant machine, and usingthe transplant machine to automatically transplant the plants externallyof the container according to the predetermined ordered arrangement. 31.A method of supplying plants as claimed in claim 29, wherein said stepof transporting the container to a second country in the sealedcontainer includes the step of transporting the container through aborder control of the second country which forbids entry of soil intosaid second country.
 32. (canceled)
 33. A method of supplying plants asclaimed in claim 29, wherein said container is fitted with an insert andthe insert defines said predetermined ordered arrangement.
 34. A methodof supplying plants as claimed in claim 29, wherein said method includesthe step of using computer software controlling said transplant machineto locate each of the plants automatically using one or more referencepoints provided on the insert.
 35. (canceled)
 36. (canceled) 37.(canceled)
 38. (canceled)